This is a AU fic, as Lucille is still alive never being involved in the accident. The ages of the boys are as followed:
Scott is 16
John is 14
Virgil is 12
Gordon is 10
and Alan is 8

**Baby mine, don't you cry
**

The young blonde boy searched around the crowds in hope that he would see either his parents or brothers amongst the large crowds that were all packed into the small gymnasium, he adjusted his small project in front of him as he saw the school judges heading for his display.

The small display was of the solar system to a scale, "And now John Tracy's space project" The principle said as he read off the clipboard he was carrying, along with him were two judges and looked at the display in front of John.

**Baby mine, dry your eyes
**

John had changed into his best suit, the normal one he wore for special occassions and for church on sundays. He had reminded his family about the science fair during breakfast that morning, or at least he tried to amongst the chaos that was his family.

Scott mentioned about a soccer match he had after school, while Virgil was staying back to practice his music. Gordon had swimming practice and Alan was going to be picked up by Lucille before going off shopping. Their father was going to be busy all day discussing plans with some important people, he was busy with his work as always.

**Rest your head close to my heart
**

John sighed and once he had finished his breakfast, he secured his science project in his bag before walking the short distance to their school. He has talked to his mother the night before and she had promised that she would make it to his science fair.

The science fair was now over, John had come in first place again this year but the victory felt hollow. No one in his family had turned up including his mother. She promised... He thought to himself as he slowly dismantled the project so he could reassemble it back in his room once home.

**Never to part, baby of mine
**

Entering their small home, he found it empty, dark and quiet. Home alone again John sighed as he closed and locked the door behind him before climbing the stairs to his room.

Once changed out of his suit and into some plain clothes, John had started reassembling the model and place it next to his models of the space shuttles or LEMs that he had made with using the basic diagrams from the space books that crowded his bookshelf.

On his desk, which was covered in text books or homework, lay a telescope that was in need of some finer repair after it had been knocked off its shelf when Virgil and Gordon had been in here looking for their ball, which ended up being in Scott's room after they had trashed his.

**Little one when you play
**

Once he had finished reassembling the model and repaired his telescope, he folded his telescope neatly before putting it in his bag, got his gloves and a few other layers before going off down the stairs and out of the back door towards the meadow to his favourite spot.

At the top of the hill that formed the meadow, John could set up his telescope and stare at the stars for hours on end. With the house empty and knowing that his family wouldn't be back for hours either due to Scott's soccer game going into over time or Gordon's swimming practise went over its normal time, John felt alone and the only way to help him feel better was to watch and wait for the stars to come out on what was quickly becoming a crisp winter evening.

**Don't you mind what you say
**

Lucille sighed as she juggled around the grocery bags until she was able to unlock the door to their house, behind her followed Scott, Virgil and Gordon. In Scott's arms was Alan, who had fallen asleep in the car, gently Scott lay Alan down on the couch before going to help his mom unload the car.

"Virgil can you check for messages while I unpack" She called to her second son as she unloaded the groceries with Scott and Gordon.

"Ok Mom!" Virgil called back and did as he was told.

"I'm going to go and change out of my clothes mom" Gordon said as he could smell the chlorine from the pool on his clothes.

"Ok Gordon, Scott and myself can unpack this until your father gets home" Lucille said with a smile as she unloaded the eggs carefully from the paperbag.

**Let those eyes sparkle and shine
**

John refocused the telescope to face away from the view of the back of the house to the view of the evening sky above him. They don't miss me... He thought to himself with a deep sigh and rubbed his eyes before checking the adjustments on his telescope.

**Never a tear, baby of mine
**

Gordon walked into his room and changed out of his clothes and threw them into the basket that was placed near his door for his dirty laundry. Once he finished tucking his t-shirt in and threw a light jacket over it, Gordon headed back out but noticed that the door to John's room was slightly open.

"John?" He called as he slowly made his way to his older brother's room, moving the door open slightly more he peeked in to see if John was in his room but there was no sign of him.

John's room look as tidy as usual, his first prize science project laid complete on the bookshelf and his best suit was hanged up on its hook. John's school bag was laid out on the desk, books spilling out of it.

'Wonder where he is' Gordon thought before disappearing, closing the door behind him.

**If they knew sweet little you
**

Moving position away from the hill, John held his telescope tightly in his hands as he walked along the fields being careful not to fall into a stray rabbit hole that covered the sides of the hill. He shivered as a cold wind blew across the hill, tugging at his light jacket he was wearing. The rest of his clothes and gloves were tucked into his bag that originally held his telescope.

Stopping and looking back at the house, he could see it growing misty, the house was only just in view with the one light shining from the back of the house. Sighing, John continued on with his journey unsure of his target only knowing that his family did not love him any longer.

**They'd end up loving you too
**

Scott stretched as he reached up to get to one of the high shelves to fetch down something his mom had asked him for, looking around he could see Virgil had gotten his homework out and started on it, setting himself up on the large dinner table, Gordon and Alan, who had woken up a short while ago, were sat together watching tv but there was no sign of John.

"I'm just going to go upstairs mom" Scott said with a small smile and headed off upstairs to check John's room. He knew that John had a science fair after school today but he was busy with his soccer match resulting in him unable to go and support his brother.

Reaching his room, he knocked softly and waited for a response. When he did not recieve one, he knocked again before opening the door and looked into the room. "John?" Scott called and moved into the room to see that there were signs of John being there recently as the first prize science project was sat up on the bookshelf with the ribbon attached while on his desk was his homework waiting to be done.

**All those same people who scold you
**

Looking up as he came free of the small forest that was on the other side of the hill, John could see that it was clouding over, blocking his sight to the stars. Shrugging it off and moved his telescope so it was tucked inside his jacket allowing him to put his hands in his pockets, he continued onward to his unknown destination.

Unknown to John, the clouds that had covered the skies while he had carefully navigated through the small forest were actually storm clouds building up ready to let loose its hold of rain onto the dry ground below.

**What they'd give just for
**

Jeff sighed as he opened the door to the house and shrugged his jacket off. Closing the door behind him he was welcomed by Gordon and Alan running from the living room, almost crashing into their father.

"Woah boys! Let me get into the door!" He said with a laugh as he hanged his jacket and placed his keys on the table.

Lucille came out from the kitchen wiping her hands on the tea towel she was carrying. "They're just glad to see you home" She said with a smile.

"I know, but this is hard for all of us at the moment" Jeff said as he scooped Alan up. "And you're getting too heavy for this" He added with a smile before ruffling Gordon's hair.

"It will get better" Lucille said with a kiss to his cheek.

"I know it will, where are the others? It's starting to rain out there" Jeff said with a small groan as he moved his youngest son back on the ground.

"Virgil is at the table doing his homework, Scott's disappeared upstairs and think John is up there doing his homework" Lucille informed her husband.

"He's not here" Scott's voice called as he came down the stairs slowly. As he came into view, he held the first prize science fair project.

Lucille saw the blue ribbon attached to the model and realised that the science fair was that afternoon while she had been out with Alan. "Oh no... has anyone seen John today?" She asked as she seen him the previous night and at breakfast that morning.

"No... usually we meet up for lunch but I had a few things to do, and Virgil had to talk to his teacher" Scott said as he gently put down the small display down on the hallway table. Sighing he turned around and ran back up the stairs.

Lucille followed her eldest son up with Jeff following close behind her. They both headed up towards John's room, Scott was there near the bed looking around for something out of place.

**The right to hold you
**

The rain that had started off like a light drizzle but then had progressed into heavy showers with light rain in between. Only dressed in his light summer jacket, not bothering to get his other clothes back out of his rucksack knowing that they would have been soaked through in a matter of seconds.

Coughing and shivering slightly, John tried to hide down in his jacket seeking warmth that was simply not there any longer. He brushed his hair out of his eyes and looked up to the dark sky as it continued to rain, the wind blowing against him, sighed and continued on his unknown journey.

**From your head to your toes
**

Jeff, Lucille and Scott looked around John's room for something, anything that seemed out of place or missing. John had organised his room so well that this should be a easy thing for them to do but it wasn't as easy as they first hoped.

Jeff closed the cupboard doors as Scott climbed out from under the bed, Lucille was searching the desk and shelves. "I think I know what's missing..." She muttered as she looked at the empty shelf.

Jeff and Scott looked up and saw what Lucille was looking at, "His telescope's missing..." Scott said in a quiet voice as he joined his mother.

**You're not much, goodness knows
**

Having dug out his drier layers, John used one of the spare jumpers as a small blanket while he had changed out of his wet clothes into the other spare layers hoping that it would give him some warmth.

John continued to shiver and could feel the draft coming from the log like poles that made up the medium sized hut that he was hiding in away from the storm.

Coughing slightly he huddled down into the jumper and tried to get some sleep while he waited for the storm to fade.